Christmas In The Air Tonight (Reddie)
by RedgravesTardis
Summary: Eddie comes back to Rach in time for Christmas. He admits how he feels. They have a christmas they'll never forget.
1. Chapter 1

It was the fifth of December 2009. Melissa and Eddie were rowing once again. The argument was nothing new. It was about how Eddie was still in love with Melissa's sister Rachel.

"Its always going to be Rachel isn't it?" Melissa screamed.

"I love her!" Eddie yelled. Melissa rolled her eyes. She hated being second best to Rachel.

"She doesn't even care Eddie! She hasn't spoken to you since our child was born!" Melissa yelled back.

Eddie went to calm his crying child down. Melissa followed him. "Get out Eddie! Take that little brat with you!" Melissa screamed at Eddie.

"She's not a brat she's your daughter!" He said lifting his 3 month old draught out from the cot, and held her close rocking her gently with tears in his eyes, He knew hat he made a mistake by leaving Rachel as he was always there for her and it still hurt him when someone would talk about her like that.

Rachel was at her home, she had tried to move on from Eddie but she found herself that she wasn't able to as Eddie was her true love, it was the first time in along time that she had found someone who loved her for who she is and not for her past.

Rach was in the kitchen looking out the window , watching the snow fall down, she smiled to herself thinking about the times that Her and Eddie had in the snow, building snowmen, having snowball fights and making snow angels. As she was thinking about this a few tears rolled down her face, she missed Eddie so much and would do anything to get back with him.

Eddie was packing Amanda's last few bits before he put her silver puffy coat on that kept her warm, he put his bags over his shoulder before lifting Amanda up and holding her close "Daddy's gonna take you to someone special" he said softly at her , Amanda was asleep, Eddie smiled looking at her before carrying her downstairs, he put her in the pram and strapped her in. Once he had strapped her in he went into the living room and saw Mel

"I'm going now"

Good!" Mel snapped

Eddie sighed and went back to the hallway and lifted his fine brown jacket and put it on before opening the front door and pushing Amanda out, the streets was white with snow, he smiled and started to walk away from Mel's house. He was glad that he never married her but he kind of hated himself for getting Mel pregnant instead of Rach, as he knew that Rach would care about the baby more than herself.

As Eddie was walking down the road he looked around watching the kids play in the snow, he smiled and thought back to the time where it was him and Rach , he would do all the snowball fights, Making snow angels and building Snowmen all over again, he kept smiling as he know that he was able to do it all over again, He walked further down the road seeing Bolton, Dan, Paul, Alseeha playing in the snow, Bolt noticed him and looked over then looked back at his little gang

"Isn't that ?" He asked looking shocked

Paul looked "yeah it is bolt"

Bolt looked at Eddie and shouted

"Alright Sir Where you heading"

Eddie looked around seeing them and smiled

"Heading towards 's house"

"Aww, what's happened?"

"Oh Melissa had kicked me out"

"Aww why sir?"

"Because I'm still in love with Miss Mason"

"Aww that's sweet" bolt said "I'll let you get on"

Eddie nodded with another smile and walked across the road, he wasn't far from Rachels, Amanda had woken up so he stopped and got a bottle out from the bag before handing it to her and then carried on walking , he was getting cold but tried not to show it, he wondered if any of the shops was open so he could surprise Rach with some flowers and some wine.

He went passed a Co-op and went in, he picked up a basket and put it on top of the pram and started to look around the shop, he looked at the frozen food before he reached the chocolate aisle and walked down it trying to remember what chocolate Rach liked, she was a little picky about her chocolate, she didn't like any chocolate that had nuts in. Eddie found some chocolates and checked to see if they had nuts in , they didn't so he put them into the basket, he remembered that he had come in for flowers which was at the front of the store, so he walked all the way back to the from of the store and picked out some nice and fresh flowers, then headed towards the wine aisle and looked at the wine once he got there and looked at the Red wine thinking on what one Rach would like.

He picked one and then placed a few bottles in the basket, he had got everything that he wanted, he thought to himself about getting a new coat so he walked from the wine aisle to the clothes aisle, Amanda needed changing but he couldn't change her yet as the toilets was past the metal detectors. He looked at the costs and picked up the cheapest one and tried it on? It suited him so he took it off and put it in the basket and headed to the tills, the queues was quite long as everyone was panic buying, he noticed the the self service was empty so he went over and started to use that,

After he paid he went into the baby changing rooms and lifted Amanda out the pram and put her on the changing bed and changed her nappy, he soon changed her and left the shop, he stopped and took of his old coat and put his new one on and walked to Rachels.

Eddie was now on Rachels street, he walked down the road a bit and reached her house, he looked at it and took a breath, it had been a few months since he last saw Rachels house, he opened the gate and pushed Amanda into the garden and knocked on the door waiting on an answer.

Rachel was still in the kitchen and came out of her daydream and had just put the kettle on and heard someone knocking at the door, she sighed thinking it was Mel. She walked through the hallway and went to the door and thought "what if it's Eddie?" Her heart started to beat fast as she started to think that it was Eddie, she opened the door seeing Eddie standing there

Eddie had a smile on his face hearing the door open and once he saw Rach the smile for bigger "Rachel"

Rach looked at him, she was shocked, but she was also happy

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a shock tone.


	2. Chapter 2

"I've came home back for you" Eddie said with a smile

"But why? Your with Mel?"

"I'm still in love with you, she kicked us out"

Rach looked confused as he said us before realising about the baby, she looked at the baby girl and smiled at her

"Urm, you better come in, the kettle has just been boiled" she said looking at him with a little smile

"Can you help with the little one?" He asked softly shivering a little

Rach looked at Amanda with a little smile, she wasn't very good at looking after babies. As Rachel was looking at her she gave her a little smile. Amanda had smiled back at her.

Rach began to push Amanda inside the house, once Rach had got Ananda inside she went out to the kitchen and got two cups out. She put two tea bags in the cups and poured the hot water into the cups , she added two sugars after she added the milk and gave it a stir and took out the tea bag.

Eddie had put his stuff down by the stairs and went over to Amanda and lifted her out of the pram , Amanda looked around the room , she wanted her mum so she started crying for Rach.

Rach was done making the tea's and brought them in and placed them on the table , Rach looked over at them before hearing Eddie speak

"She wants you?"

"What?" She asked confused

"Amanda wants cuddles from you"

"You sure about that?" She didn't want to telling that she wasn't good around babies.

"Yeah, I'm very sure"

She looked at Amanda "I can't"

"Hey Rach what's happened?"

"Nothing just leave it, your gonna have to have cuddles with her"

"But she wants you"

"I don't care if she wants me I can't okay" she snapped but not meaning to, she picked up her cuppa tea and headed up to the bedroom, she wanted some time alone to calm down in case she said something that might of hurt Eddie.

She went into the bedroom and locked the door and sat behind it as she started to think back to when she was a Mum. Rach had reached for a blue dinosaur teddy and held it close to chest, as she was holding it she closed to her she got up and headed into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bath and closed her eyes

 ***Flash back Scene***

 _Rach was in bed with Staurt , they was kissing as they was having time to their selfs when Rach looked at the time and saw that it was time to feed Charlotte, Rach got up and went into the nursery and went over to the cot and saw that she wasn't breathing, Rachel had tears streaming down her face and started to panic._

 _"STUART!" Rachel screamed as she was scared and panicking._

 _Stuart had came running in and over to Rachel_

 _"What's wrong?" He asked_

 _"It's Charlotte she's not breathing"_

 _"Shit! Right urm... It's going to be okay" he said knowing that it might not be okay_

 _"Do something!" She said panicking more_

 _Stuart was trying to do CPR on her but it wasn't working, he started to rub charlottes back gently incase she would breath again but it wasn't working so he called for ambulance. Stuart had pulled Rach close to him and held her and kissed her head as he knew that she was scared._

 _"She's gone ain't she?" She said with tears_

 _"I don't know honey, the ambulance is on its way"_

 _"But she's gone ain't she, she wasn't breathing when I came in"_

 _"Rach we need to wait for the paramedics "_

 _"But it's too late" she said with more tears_

 _"Hey we don't know that" he said trying to reassure her._

 _Rach had picked Charlotte up and held her close , The ambulance had parked outside_

 _"You can go let them in I want to stay here with Charlotte"_

 _"Okay baby" he kissed her head again and then went down to the front door and let them in, the paramedics followed staurt up to the bedroom_

 _"Rach, helps here"_

 _Rach just nodded and put Charlotte back in the cot. One of the paramedics came over and picked her up and did the same things that staurt had tried to, the paramedic looked over at them before speaking_

 _"Mr and Mrs hordley in so sorry but Charlotte didn't make it"_

 _Rach felt sick as they pronounced that Charlotte had died at the scene and ran into the bathroom room and throw up in the toilet._

Rachel opened her eyes, she had felt sick, she had tears streaming down her face. Eddie had settled Amanda down before he put her back in her pram and went to check on Rach, Eddie made his way up the stairs calling out her name,

"Rach?" Eddie called out

Rach didn't hear him at first , Eddie called her name out again this time she heard and tried to answer like she hasn't been crying but it was hard to do.

"I'm in here Ed" she said with a shaky voice and with more tears.

Eddie heard her reply and came into the bathroom and looked at her "Rach what's happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it" she was still scared that if she told him then he would leave her again

"But Rach your crying"

"I'm fine" she said as her voice got more shaky, Eddie went over to her and pulled her into a hug, he slightly noticed the Blue dinosaur but wasn't going to ask, he pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her head

"Hey, it's okay , I'm here now princess"

Rach cried into him as she couldn't stop thinking about her little girl, it was killing her inside as she never told anyone what had happened to her before.

"Why don't we go into the bedroom?"

"Hey, shush it's gonna be okay"

Rach nodded while she was still in the hug, Eddie gently took her into the bedroom and sat her down on the bed and went to get some tissue for her.

Rach sat on the bed still holding the blue dinosaur, Eddie came back in and sat next to her, Rach looked at him

"Eddie?"

"Yeah princess?"

"I need to tell you something but I'm scared that you might leave again"

Eddie took her hand "Hey, I'm never going to leave you"

"You will after what I tell you"

"Rach nothing will make me leave you, I don't care about your past I love you"

"It's nothing to do with the prosstitution"

"Then what is it princess?"

"I..erm...I used to be a mum..."


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie looked at a little shocked, he never knew that had mum material in her, Eddie didn't say nothing and just looked at her. Rach had looked away at him knowing that he hate her.

Eddie saw and kissed her head, he didn't hate he he just couldn't believe that she didn't tell him that she was a mum before

Rach didn't look at him she was to ashamed "leave if you want?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I've been lying to you"

"I don't care about that Rach"

"But I do"

"Rach it's okay I get that your scared"

"No you don't..."

"Rach? Do you want to tell me about it?"

Rach nodded a little, holding the blue dinosaur closer to her, Eddie held her close and wiped her eyes

"If I do tell you promise you won't tell anyone?"

Eddie looked at her

"Of course I won't tell anyone, No one needs to know about this" he said softly

Rachel looked back at him "Thank you"

"Hey, it's okay, I don't see why everyone needs to know everything about you"

Rach just nodded, she was feeling tired but knew that she had to tell him what happened to her daughter.

"Promise me another thing?"

"What's that princess?"

"You won't force me into spending time with Amanda"

"Hey of course not princess"

Rachel nodded again , she didn't know where to start, she looked down at the dinosaur and started to thing of how she was gonna come out and say it.

Eddie knew that she didn't know where to start and just kissed her head again "Hey Princess, Take your time"

Rach had closed her eyes again thinking of Charlotte "I was 8 months pregnant when I married Stuart..."

Eddie just held her close, "then what happened Rach?" He said supporting her

"We was happy, we had everything ready, we had the nursery ready..."

Eddie nodded stroking her arm gently

Rach now had even more tears running down her face "She was so small Ed"

"Hey I know" he had tears hearing her, he kissed her head again

"She was only a few days old, I went to give her a feed when I picked her up she wasn't breathing, Stuart tried to save her but she was already dead!" She said as was breaking down.

Rach started to hit herself while she was telling Eddie about Charlotte, Eddie pulled her close by her arms gently and held her, he was rubbing her back softly "Hey it's okay princess,I'm here Princess"

Rach never said anything apart from "she was so small", she kept crying into him as she could no longer hit herself as Eddie hand hold off her arms, Rach looked over at her wallet, Eddie saw and let go of her arms so she could pick it up.

Rach picked up her wallet and got our a picture of Charlotte , she only had one photo of her holding Charlotte

"That was Charlotte" she said showing Eddie

"She looks like you" he smiled

"No she doesn't"

"Hey she does" he said kissing her head to calm her down, Rach was slowly calming down, she had now had her head on his shoulder still crying but not as much as before. Rachel was getting tired, Eddie didn't mind her falling asleep on him as he knew that he made her feel safe.

"Hey why don't you get some sleep princess"

"I'm not tired" she said as she yawned

"I'm gonna stay with you honey"

"Please, I don't want to be on my own anymore"

"Hey I promise I'm not anywhere without you"

Rachel lifted her head up and looked at him, she was now calm, she looked tired, she looked into his eyes like she used to when they was together, Eddie looked in her eyes and saw all the hurt

"Hey, I know what your going through Rach, I lost a kid to"

Rach nodded softly "yeah?"

"Yeah honey, I had a baby boy called James,We did everything right, we put him to bed one night and the next morning I went to check on him and he wasn't breathing" he said taking a photo out of James and Michael and then pointed to the one that was James "That's James's"

Rach looked at them "I'm sorry I didn't know " she said softly before yawning again

"It's okay honey no-one knows apart from me and and Alison and now you" he smiled "come on get comfy , were taking a nap together like we used to"

Rach looked at him "Eddie?"

"Yeah princess?"

She took a deep breath "Did you wanna bring Amanda up?"

"Only if your ready to"

"I don't mind, I want to try to get to know her"

Eddie smiled "I'll be back in a second" she said getting up and going down to Amanda and lifting her out the pram, he held her close and went back upstairs and back into the bedroom , Rach had fallen asleep while she waited for Eddie.

Eddie came in and looked over and smiled at her and then sat on the bed getting comfy and putting Rachel's head on his lap then put Amanda in between them, Eddie was stroking Rachel's hair again watching her sleep, he wasn't tired but wanted to stay with Rach incase she was a nightmare or something.

Eddie watched her while he was playing with Amanda, he was more happier when he was with Rach, he couldn't get on with Mel and never knew why he left Rach to go with Mel.

Eddie just watched the pair of them sleep, he found it cute, he always found watching Rach was cute , he continued to stroke her hair, he saw that Rach was getting cold so he carefully put her and Amanda into bed,

Eddie had to pop out to get some stuff so he took Rachel's set of keys that also had her car keys on, he was going to borrow her car . He knew that she wouldn't mind so he headed out, he needed to buy a few things for Amanda, Like a new bed, and a wardrobe , he knew that Rach would have the cot on her side of the bed which was fair enough.

Eddie took a drive to the nearest Argos and brought a bed and a wardrobe, then drove back and parked it back in the drive way and got the stuff out the car and took it inside and closed the door and took it up to the spare room where he was going to build it without interrupting Rachel while she was sleeping.


	4. Chapter 4

Eddie unpacked the cot and put each part out on the floor, he got the instructions and started to read them before he touch anything as he wanted to know what he was doing first, he just looked at the instructions, he couldn't make out what it was trying to say as the instructions was in French, Eddie sighed as he looked at the pieces of the cot that was still on the floor.

Rachel had been asleep for a while now, she had moved a little to get comfy and didn't feel that that Eddie was going, she was cuddling into Amanda who was also peacefully asleep and was cuddled into Rach.

Eddie had picked up what he thought was as the base and one of the sides, he started to screw it in when it started not to look right, he stopped and unscrewed the base and the side. He threw the instructions across the room "Bloody French people" he muttered under his breath throwing the base and the side down waking Rachel and Amanda up.

Rach woke up hearing the bang, she thought that someone had broken in, she looked around the room a little and saw that Amanda was cuddled into her, Rach moved a little in shock, she couldn't believe it that she had fallen asleep with Mandy, Mandy opened her little eyes as she heard the bang to and was going to cry until she noticed Rachel looking down at her, Rachel didn't smile at her as she was still shocked, Amanda looked at her and gave Rach her baby smile, Rach saw and smiled back, it melted her heart.

Rach just looked at her again, she didn't know what to do at first, she was still scared that she would drop her if she picked her up so Rach sat close to her and started to stroke her hair a little, Mandy couldn't stop smiling at her, Rach smiled at her to, she was falling in love with her step daughter, she wanted to look after her better then Mel ever did as she was smiling at her Rach spoke "Does Amanda want a cuddle?" Amanda smiled more at her to say yes.

Rachel carefully picked her up and held her, she put Mandy's little head on her shoulder and started to rub her back, she was also thinking about Charlotte as she used to put her tiny head on her shoulder and Rach would rub her back, Rach had tears again, she had mixed emotions at this stage, she loved Mandy but thought it was a little to early to bond with her, but you couldn't be mad at Rach for trying her best. Rachel felt Mandy's nappy incase she needed to change, she sighed a little as she did need changing, She wanted Eddie to change her as she thought there was a way that Eddie would change Mandy by.

Rach just sighed and reached over the bed for Mandy's bag that had her changing stuff in and gently placed Mandy on the middle of the bed, Mandy was wiggling her little feet. Rachel watched smiling at her as she got her nappy out and some cream in case Mandy had a nappy rash, Rach started to undo her baby grow and untaped the sides of Mandy's nappy taking it off, Rach looked at the nappy then back at Mandy and smiled again "who's a little stinker"

Mandy smiled that smile that melted Rachel's heart and gave out a little baby giggle, Rach was putting on a clean nappy on Mandy, Mandy didn't have a nappy rash so Rach didn't have to use the cream, she smiled as Mandy was still kicking her little legs, once she done with the nappy Rach put Mandy's legs back into the baby grow and buttoned it back up, Rach rolled the dirty nappy up and put it in a nappy bag.

Rach picked up the nappy bag and took it to the bathroom bin, she was only leaving Mandy alone for a few minutes, Mandy looked at the door before starting to cry, she didn't like to be on her own, as Mel would leave Mandy alone in order for Mel to get drunk , Rach looked in the mirror she stared at her reflection for a few minutes as she was taking some breaths and thought to herself "Rachel you got this" she walked out the bathroom and back into the bedroom and sat back on the bed and picked Mandy back up, she started to rub her back to get her to calm down, Mandy started to calm down from the moment Rach picked her up.

Rach looked down at her with a smile "let's go and see where your daddy is?" Mandy gave Rach another smile, she got up holding her close and walked out the bedroom into the hallway, as she stood in the hallway she could hear Eddie swear as he still couldn't work out how to put the cot up.

Rach heard and went into the spare bedroom, she saw Ed on his knees looking at the instructions again and placed her hand on his shoulder, Eddie jumped feeling her do so then turned tot look at her

"Rach, your awake" he said smiling noticing she was holding Mandy

"Yeah and so is this little one" she replied

Eddie smiled again knowing it was hard for Rach to be looking at Mandy "your doing great princess"

Rach smiled hearing him call her princess again, she always liked it when he would call her princess, Rach looked at him "whatcha doing?"

"Trying to build this cot but the instructions are all in bloody French"

"Want me to help?" She asked softly

"No princess it's fine"

"Ed? Go and sit down and cuddle your daughter, you need to take a break"

Eddie nodded and stood up, Rach gently passed her to him

"Has she been changed yet?"

"Yeah, just baby, I changed her"

Eddie smiled again and went over to the bed, he sat down and cuddled Mandy as Rach looked at the instructions and started to build the cot, she was building it like the instructions said, she screwed in the ends of the cot to the base, then she screwed in the sides , it didn't take her long to build it, Eddie looked at her in shock, he couldn't work out how fast she built it

"Your just a show off Rach"

"Oh, says the one who likes to show me off to everyone" Rach smirked and put the little mattress in the cot then came over to him with the instructions

"Oi, I show you off because you deserve to be shown off"

Rach smirked again and sat by him, Eddie had put his arm around her, and spoke again

"How did you build it that fast?"

"Well, for starters if you had the instructions the right way up and go to the first page it's in English, you idiot"

"I maybe be an idiot but I'm the headmistress idiot"

"Oh you still think that you are" she smirked, she was willing to take him back as she missed him to much"

"Only if you want me to? I mean if you still want me?"

Rach looked at him and stroked his cheek a little "to be honest with you, I didn't want you to leave"

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"I want you to be there for the baby, I wanted you to be happy because you wanted something I couldn't give you.."

"What do you mean what you couldn't give me?"

"I mean you wanted a baby, and I didn't want one because I wasn't ready that's why I let you go with Mel" she said looking down with tears again, Eddie lifted her head back up and wiped them

"I could of waited till you was ready"

"But it wouldn't be far on you..."

He looked at her and it suddenly clicked "you was too scared to tell me about Charlotte at the time?"

"Yeah.."

"Hey it's okay, I couldn't hate you if you did tell me then"

Rach nodded, I just thought that you would"

"Rach baby, listen to me, nothing is going to change the way I feel about you, I love you to much"

"I love you to Eddie"

Eddie smiled and wiped her eyes again and kissed her head "so Miss Mason do you still want me?"

"Of course this headmistress wants her deputy back"

"Oh that's good then" he smiled and got lost into her eyes, Rach also got lost into his eyes before leaning towards him and kissed him softly with her eyes closed, like she did when they first kissed, Eddie did the same, Rach felt and smiled in the kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

It was now four days later, the 9th of December , Rach was more happy now that Eddie was back, her house still wasn't decorated with Christmas decorations, she still didn't feel it, she didn't know why, she had the man that she loved back but it still felt something was missing, she looked around the living room thinking what was missing then it hit her , She wasn't in the Christmas Spirit, she hadn't decorated her house yet.

Eddie was lying on the floor playing with his daughter Amanda, who was happily playing with her toys and clapping her little hands and giggling a little while Eddie was playing Peek-A-Boo with her, Eddie was so much happier now that he had moved out of Mel's as it never felt like home there, For him home was always with Rachel, He always felt like he could talk to Rach about anything and she wouldn't get offended as she would talk with him and think about how to handle the situation.

Rach stood by the kitchen door watching them, she sighed watching Eddie talk about Christmas, so she turned her back onto them and went back over to the sink , Rach had lost her Christmas spirit since Eddie chose Mel over her, but now that he was back she thought her Christmas spirit would come back.

Eddie looked up hearing her knowing that something was wrong so he put Amanda into her play pin so that she was safe , Eddie got up and stretched and walked out to the kitchen and went over to Rachel and put his arms around her cuddling her "hey what's up?"

Rach smiled as she felt his arms wrapped around her waist , she still stared out the window "it's nothing ED, it's fine,just go back and play with Amanda" she snapped a little.

Eddie looked at Rach, knowing something was wrong and sighed"what's really wrong Rach?"

"I just said its nothing!" Rach snapped again this this a little bit harsher.

Eddie took two steps back "Why won't you tell me Rach?"

"because there is nothing to tell!"

"Yes there is Rachel! Your holding back something, if you just tell me I can help!"

"I just told you that there's nothing wrong!"

"If there's nothing wrong then why are you snapping at me?"

"Because I've told you there's nothing to worry about..." Rach said with a sigh

"But you know that however big or small the problem is , we can sort it out"

"It's nothing..Your just gonna leave again" she said letting slip before continuing her sentence "I'm going out.." she said after she realised what she had said.

ED looked at her "what makes you think I'm gonna leave again?" He asked softly

Rachel hesitated for a couple of seconds trying to think of her answer as she did the want her and Eddie to fall out a few weeks before Christmas.

"Mel... She'll say she Misses you and that she wants you back and that she loves you more then me.. and you'll leave and go back to her... And she gets everything like she always do and I'll get nothing.." she said looking down as tears was forming in her eyes, she hated how Mel would get everything she wanted. She looked at him before making her way to the door.

Eddie sighed watching her letting her go to the door he knew that he had to let her walk out as he knew she needed some air. Rach grabbed her jacket and her car keys before she headed out the door, she walked over to her car and unlocked it and got in it, she sat in the drivers seat and put her bag on the passenger side, she started the car up and put her belt on, before driving out of the drive way. She drove to the end of the road then drove to the direction of the pub but as soon as she got to the pub she decided to carry on driving.

Eddie went back over to Amanda and picked her up from the play pin and cuddled her as she was looking around for Rachel "Hey Rachie had to go out baby its just you and me"he said softly to his baby girl. and rubbed her back "Rachie will be back soon i'm sure of it" he said uncertain that she was coming back, Eddie took Amanda for a little walk around the house as she had started to cry, She wanted Rachel.

Rachel drove to the City limit sign and pulled over, she looked out the window watching families walk by heading home or to the pubs or to a restaurant, She sighed seeing them with the Christmas Spirit, she reached for her phone and got it out, she unlocked it then went onto her photos bringing up the Christmas photos of her and Eddie, as she looked at them she smiled at them before deciding it was time to tell Eddie what that wrong. Rach got off the photo app and tapped on her contacts and scrolled down to Eddies before taping on the call button, Hearing the phone dial she suddenly started to feel nervous, it had been so long that Rachel had called him on his mobile.

Eddie smiled hearing Rachel's ringtone he went over to the kitchen side and picked it, he started to panic a little as Rach would only call him when she was in trouble he tapped the answer button

"Rach what's up? Are you okay?"

"Ed calm down, I'm fine.. I rang because we need to talk again.."

"Where are you?" he said softly after hearing her tell him that she was okay

"I'm at the City limit sign... Can you come alone?" she asked as her voice went a little shaky

"Hey ill get Steph or Tom to look after Amanda, ill be there soon okay?"

"Okay that's great" Rach replied hearing that he was able to come and meet her on her own.

Eddie got some of Amanda's things together and put them in her little travel bag along with some milk bottles and toys, he put Amanda into the car seat with her blanket and picked up his keys and put his jacket on and left the house and made his way to Stephs knowing she wouldn't mind baby sitting for a few hours while he went and talked to Rachel. Eddie soon made it to Stephs as she didn't live to far away from Rachel's, He knocked on the door waiting for Steph or Maxine to answer he looked down at Amanda and smiled seeing her now asleep in the car seat. Steph finally came to the door and answered it seeing Eddie standing there

"Hey Eddie, Long time no see" she said smiling at him as she hadn't saw him since he broke up with Eddie

"Hey, yeah I know..Urm I'm here to ask a favouur really" he replied watching her then looked at his watch, he hated keeping Rachel waiting.

"What is it?" She said before looking down at Amanda unaware it was Mel's daughter as Amanda had some of Rachel's facial features "who this then don't she look like Rachel.. Oh my god Rachel kept that quite"

ED smiled "this is Amanda, she's not Rachel's" he said setting the rumours straight "she's Mel's.. I was wondering if you can look after her a few hours"

"Aw that's a cute name" she said smiling down at her again "hey of course I can"

Eddie smiled "Thank you so much.. Erm is there any chance I could get a lift, Rachel's at the City limit sign and i forgot my keys?"

"Course you can, ill get Maxine to look after Amanda while i take you to her" Steph said with another smile , she didn't mind helping Rachel or Eddie out. Eddie smiled hearing her say that she was going to give him a lift to where Rachel was, He handed over the car seat to her "i think I packed everything, if i haven't I was in a rush"

"Ed, its fine me and Max can sort it"

he nodded "We really should go.. i hate keeping Rachel waiting"

Steph nodded and called Maxine down,Maxine came down and looked at Steph and Eddie and smiled down at Amanda

"I need you to look after Amanda for me while i go quickly drop Eddie off in town"

"Sure I can" she said softly taking the car seat from Steph and handing her the car keys, Steph unlocked the car, Eddie got in and waited for Steph who was talking to Maxine about the house rules, Max nodded listening to her. Steph soon got into her car and put her belt on and smiled looking over at Eddie, Eddie smiled back

"So how long have you been back?" Steph asked softly as she drove down her road and headed towards town

"Oh a few months... only just got back with Rachel a few weeks go" he said with a little nod

"Oh i bet Rachel was shocked to see you again"

"Yeah she was but she took me in" he smiled and got his phone out bringing up his and Rachels messages , he was going to text her to say that he was now on his way

 ** _"Hey princess,_**

 ** _Just to say that I'm on my way and that I shouldn't be to long, as Steph has kindly given me a lift._**

 ** _I love you Rach xx"_**

he typed out before sending it to her with a little smile

Rachel received the from Eddie . She smiled a little reading the last line, seeing that he loved her more. She was still determine to leave knowing she couldn't give Eddie the Christmas he wanted. Steph and Eddie soon got to the city limit sign, Steph pulled up behind Rachel's car. Eddie took his seat belt of and got ready to get out of the car, he looked over at Steph

"Thank you"

Steph smiled "Hey, don't worry about it , its nothing Eddie"

Eddie smiled at her before getting out and then walking up to Rachel's car and then getting into the passenger seat, Rachel heard the door open and looked over to see who it was before staring out the driver's window again, watching people who was in love pass her by. Steph drove off back home after watching Eddie get into Rachel's car

"I came as quick as i could Rach" he said softly

"Course you did.." she replied in a little harsh tone, she wasn't thinking straight as she was scared that the same thing that happened to Charlotte would happen to Amanda, as Eddie would blame her for it when Eddie wasn't the type to blaming her about anything. So she was going to leave Rochdale, she didn't want Eddie to stop her.

Eddie looked at her, hearing her reply to his comment "So what's wrong?" he asked softly

Rach looked at him and didn't answer but just gave him the look to say she was leaving

"Okay where are you going?"

"away from here before it's to late"

"What do you mean by that" he asked not knowing she was scared and was thinking about what happened to Charlotte.

"I'm leaving Rochdale before anything happens to Amanda and I'll get the blame like before.."she said looking at him giving him clues on what she was talking about, She had tears in her eyes again and let them fall this time

"You know I'll never blame you rach.." he suddenly clicked onto what she was talking about "what happened to Charlotte wasn't your fault, you did everything right" he said pulling her onto a hug to comfort her.

"I'm scared that it's going to happen to Amanda, that I'm gonna fail you that I'm no longer good enough" rach said crying into his chest

"Hey shush,your the most bravest person I've ever met , your more then enough for me and if it does happen again then we'll get through it together I promise" he said softly rubbing her back gently to calm her like he used to when she was upset.


End file.
